RichMaund

Here's a close up of the ones I use. Best grip I have ever used. They're on all three of my bikes. I've used these for almost ten years now.

I'd like to see one that also serves as a cup holder!

Emry Corbin produced seats like that. One problem to look out for though. Many of their seats with backpads installed right into the seat base use a heavy square steel tube to support the backpad. And it often runs right under your tail bone often less than 1/4" under the cover! I have had customers send me these seats asking me to remove the backpad hardware, fill in the foam and recover the seat. This due to the seat causing them severe pain from the pressure on their tail bones. That was a really stupid way to design a seat IMHO. If it can't be done well, it shouldn't be done. Period. Due to many things I have seen in Corbin seats made in the last ten years I now refuse to rework them for customers. Same for anything made by Sargents. Like a Barber fixing a home haircut, I can't stand the thought of working extra hard on a job that was unsatisfactory to begin with, but the person spent good money on it anyway. Then I get stuck fixing it. I know many people like Corbin seats. I have admired many of their designs over the years myself. But I recommend a buyer look VERY hard at any seat they buy since compromises in design often occur. There are many seat builders out there now whose build philosophy seems to be "Style over function". With the average American rider now riding under 1000 miles per year, the "average" rider will have no problem with this. but if you are a bike enthusiast who rides your machine, it should cause you deep concern.

Pro Grip makes a gel grip for dirt bikes that is really terrific. Has a dimpled surface similar to a golf ball, but the dimples go deeper. Retail is $9 per pair. I get them at my local KTM Dealer. The same company makes street grips, but these are my favorite on the street or on my dirt bike. Most comfortable grip I have ever used.

Actually I gave up setting TPS when I bought this bike. I let the Dealer nail it for me. Once done, you just do valve adjustments, oil changes and TB balance checks to keep it in tune. The wires aren't accesible for milivolt checks like they were on the huge connector of the computer of my 1997 Cali 1100. On that bike I set the TPS to 150 mv. On the V11S there is no good place to just check the TPS setting w/o the factory software and computer interface. I will try to remember to look it up in the tech manual sometime this week. Then I'll post it for you. Sorry, I'm spoiled with this bike. I have the regular maintenance memorized. So I don't crack open the tech manual as often as I probably should.

If you are using the linkage stops to set idle speed, you aren't doing the job correctly. You set TPS with the TB's completely closed, then set the stops to crack them open until the TPS reads a slightly higher value. (Sorry, I don't have the tech manual here at the computer.) Then you use the air bleed screws in the TB's to balance the system at idle as well as set the idle speed. Once that is all satisfactory, rev to about 4000 rpm and set the TB balance at that speed with the adjuster on the linkage. Once I do that I often rev slowly to a higher number just to watch how the balance tracks from side to side. The factory tech manual is in three languages and has excellent photos to work from. I highly recommend it. Yesterday, I bought a CD containing the full parts breakdown of a V11S from a seller on EBay. None of my Dealers have been able to get the book for me, so I hope this will do me fine. When it comes in, I'll check it out. If it's good, you see a post here on the forum and the contact info to buy your own. You can never have enough info on your bike!

You need to use an accurate set of manometers, guages or best yet a Twin Max. All machined parts have tolerance variations when manufactured. Just because you set the screws the same, doesn't mean they affect the system by the same amount! Good tools are the key here.

Very common problem with this bike. Make sure your idle isn't too low and it will go away. Here's another quirk though... The Tach will lie to you. They generally read low. When mine reads 1100 rpm at idle the idle speed is actually 1000 and the dreaded hiccup will occur. If I set up the idle to an indicated 1200 rpm, it really idles at 1100 and the problem becomes almost non-existent. Another important point is to ensure your FI system is set up well. A good Dealer can take care of that. And make sure the throttle bodies are well balanced! They are very sensitive to this. My Dealer proved to me that my mercury manometers weren't completely accurate. I set it up with my mercury sticks and it ran OK. The Dealer used a "Twin Max" electronic balancer and found they were slightly off. After he set it up with the Twin Max, it ran even better! Very cool tool. I plan to buy one. The problem was worse during break-in. If I follow my own advice above, it almost never happens. Maybe once a month when hot at a long light. Guzzi's definately improve with miles and good service! Hope this helps.

Folks I built two spare sets of bushings to do the Kawi peg conversion. Please look for them in the "For Sale" forum here. Thanks.

That reminds me! For the large hex wrench you need to remove the manhole cover under the pan..... I bought a two ended hex socket at the Hardware store made for loosening plumbing fittings. With just a light filing on the small end, it fit the hex socket on the manhole cover perfectly. I just slip a large phillips screwdriver as a handle thru it and turn the cover right off! Cost was $2.95! Ace Hardware had it.

I carry spare relays, fuses, about twice as many tools as the bike came with. I also carry a tire plugging kit, a CO2 inflator and 5 CO2 cartridges. My bike has had some bugs, but has always run well and never left me walking. I did use one of my spare relays to repair a broken Cali 1100 at the MD Rally this last April. So the parts can come in handy! I plan to get a cell phone soon. I'm tired of never being able to find pay phones when I'm out on the road. The bike DOES get better as the miles pile up. At 9.2K miles, it is better than ever. It ran well when new, now it just howls!

Pep Boys sells a wide array of filter wrenches at reasonable prices. I bought one there many years ago for my 1985 VW Scirocco. That one happens to fit Guzzi oil filters! Just take your filter to Pep Boys and pick out the one you need! I paid under $10 for mine, but that was some years ago.

Jim But don't those pegs have only a thin and narrow strip of rubber built into them? Seems to me they may not offer much advantage over stock. I like the Kwacker pegs because the rubber padding is thick and hollow and wide on top for good comfort.

These are 1998 Kawasaki ZX6 foot pegs & springs with a Bushing in the peg to take up the slack between the 10mm hole in the peg and the 6mm steel retaining pin that Guzzi uses. The Guzzi "hero feeler" nut will fit right onto the Kwacker peg. Not a drop in fit. You do need to make a bushing. But they are nicely padded and much more comfy than stock. They sit just a hair above horizontal. I like it though. Keeps my legs into the tank where they belong. But you could kiss them with a file and they would sit level for you. I bought the bits (Pegs, pads, springs, fasteners) from a local Dealer. About $50 for a pair. This was one of my favorite mods to the bike as the stock pegs put pressure on my instep and made my feet "tingle" after a couple hours. Not a problem anymore! I could make a set of the bushings for you. I would machine them from hard brass like I did mine. $20 for a set plus postage. That sounds steep, but by the time I make them, clean the lathe and take them to the PO I have an hour or two in the job. That's a good chunk of my work day. But you could make bushings if you have a drill press and a file too. Just takes longer. Hope this helps. PS: These have 8K miles on them now. Looks they will wear pretty well!

I have a Fox 19 liter expandable bag that works great on my V11S. But it was tippy atop the tank pad. I cut a pair of long wedges of firm seat foam and glued them under the tank bag pad to hold up the sides. Worked like a charm. I generate a lot of scrap foam like this. If anyone here wants a pair of wedges like this to glue under theirs, I'd be happy to send some to you if you cover the postage.

Emry You may want to consider putting that spring back in. It provides much friction to retain the main pin. If that main pin comes out, your pucks will bail out on you! I found that gently brass bristle brushing mine and greasing the pins helped as did cycling the pucks back & forth after assembly. That spring & pin assembly is there for a purpose. Please consider putting it back in.

Buck Were these for a Lemans or V11S? The V11S bars are three way adjustable to a certain degree. I love them. I was sorry to see the Lemans go with fixed ones.

Frank Wedge had a set of Jackal bar mounts installed on his upper triple clamp on his Lemans and then used a superbike style handlebar. Still very sporty, but a few inches taller than the stock clip ons. I believe it was covered a few issues ago in the MGNOC Magazine. That seemed like a very good modification.

Al and all I replaced my badly worn rear brake shoes a hundred miles after I did the service to the hydraulics. During that 100 miles the rear brake never dragged again. Now I have gone almost 900 miles on the new rear brake shoes. At first, they dragged a little. Tapping the rear brake pedal solved it. I took the caliper off at the campground and cycled the pucks in and back a few times and put it back on. (I did lube the pins when I replaced the pads.) Problem solved. It hasn't dragged since then. I don't fully understand why it helped, but it did. Works beautifully now. I completed my 9000 mile servicing today. Both intakes were .001" loose and the exhausts were spot on since the last check. I checked the balance with a Twin Max and it was still perfect. The bike runs like a dream! Just to make myself feel better, I re-polished my valve covers and buffed up the alloy cans on the pipes while I was at it. Now she shines! (I rode through so much torrential rain in the last year that the paint started flaking off the fronts of my valve covers. Not covered under warranty. So I bead blasted the paint off and machine buffed them. They look really sweet and aren't too much trouble to keep up!)

When my V11S was new I remember getting 30 mpg on the first tankful. That was a mix of city riding here in the flatlands with short bursts on the hiway. The bike continues to run better and better as I pile the miles up. I consistently get 43 mpg loaded on the freeway at speed on trips. 6th gear and cruising at 80-90 mph. Funny thing is that if I slow down or run below the sweet spot at 5k rpm, the gas mileage drops! Love those italian bikes! They love to run! Around town in a mix of riding, I get a pretty consistent 33 mpg. My absolute low mileage was this summer living in Pittsburgh. All those short runs around town in the steep hills killed the mileage. I got only 25 mpg on a couple of the tankfuls! But on the other hand (You have different fingers! ) the bike proved to be a terric urban assault bike. It handled tight traffic and the twisty roads and bad pavement better than any bike I have owned. It was alot of fun to ride while I up there. Guzzi's are notorious for being tight when new. I have found this to be true on my personal bikes. As long as it runs well, no worries! Just ride it more and it'll get better each time! BTW; I'm wrapping up my 9000 mile service tomorrow with a valve check and fresh balancing with a Twin Max synchronizer. 'Can't wait to take it out when I finish it!

The electric petcock on my 2000 V11S began weeping a few months after I bought it. The solonoid screws into the valve body with nothing to seal it. Just sloppy class two threads. It weeped gas. Not enough to drip. Just enough to give me a whiff of gas sometimes while I was in the shop. The fuel that weeped out deteriorated the insulation on the wires for the solonoid exposing them. With those wires so close to the metal solonoid body and gas fumes around them, it was a recipe for a typical Guzzi maintenance disaster. I called my Dealer (Winchester Motosports) and described the situation. I didn't know that the owner there had once suffered a garage fire. To say he took this seriously would be putting it mildly. :-) In less than a week he got and shipped to me a new style petcock used on the 2002 bikes. The screw to shut type. Great service there! Easy fix. Mine doesn't dribble. Reading that here was news to me. The Dealer told me that the new petcock was a "improved" model and said the official company line was that nothing was wrong with the electric ones. The company simply improved it. ;-) Now the real problem!! How do we put that "dead" half gallon of fuel in the right side of the tank to work for us? It cannot be sucked into the fuel pump and effectively reduces the tank capacity to only 5 gallons. I have envisioned a milled steel block with a spigot and inline valve to layer under the fuel pressure regulator. Put it between the regulator and the tank. There is just room for such a device. Plumb it in with a "T" to the fuel pump suction line. Then we would have a true 5.5 gallon tank. We'd be effectively doubling the capacity of the "reserve". Mine will travel about 15-20 miles after the low fuel light is on solid. 30-40 miles would be nicer. I plan to look at this as a winter project. I have the machine tools. If it works and is economical to produce I may offer some up as a retrofit kit. It wouldn't be difficult to install. Anyone else entertain thoughts on this? I'd love to hear it.

Folks I have read a number of letters in different places about premature rear brake wear on the V11S type bikes. Mine has always had a slight "wup......wup" sound at slow parking lot speeds. But the rotor wasn't warped and the brake functioned well enough. Not strong. But OK. No signs of overheating and melting anything either. So I never gave it any more thought. Last week with 8K miles on the bike I tore into it for some preventive maintenance. I flushed all the hydraulic systems and tore down the rear drive to grease everything. Actually a much easier job here than on a Tonti framed bike. :-) I found one rear wheel bearing felt notchy. That was depressing, but I was happy to have found it before it completely failed. The local bearing shop sold me two bearings the next morning for under $17 to replace them. Smooth as silk now. The real surprise was finding the rear brake pads worn to under 1/16" thickness! Here's how I believe the problem came about. The rear caliper mounts upside down. So the vent for it is on the bottom. Air bubbles float up right? When I bled it, I did so by removing it and placing it upright to get a good bleed on it. I did find some air trapped in it. Any chance the factory bled the system with the caliper installed so that the vent was on the bottom when they vented it? I think so. Sheesh! If air was trapped in the caliper, it would be warmed by the hot brake pads/pucks and expand as I rode the bike, thus making the brake drag a bit. Remember I mentioned mine made a "whup whup" sound at low speeds? Apparently it was dragging a bit ALL the time. I just couldn't hear or feel it. I did check to see that the pucks moved inward smoothly as I pumped up the rear brake. No problems there. No binding. After reassembly the unit worked very smoothly. NO dragging and no more noises. May be my imagination, but the rear brake has better feel and power to it as well. 100 miles later now and it continues to work quietly. No more dragging noises. I believe the air in the caliper was the problem. It's very simple to remove, flip right side up and bleed the rear brakes on these bikes. I recommend you try that if you have noises similar to what I have experienced. It could get really expensive if you wear the brakes down to bare metal. Joe Eish got me a new set of rear brake pads in today. (God bless Joe!) I'll install those tomorrow before we ride up for the MD Rally in Hagerstown this weekend. Hope to see some of you there!

They are $30 each plus shipping. They are made from thick upholstery grade leather. So the outside has been factory treated for moisture resistance. I use heavy #138 black poly sail makers thread and double stitch them all around. Up top at the flap it is gone over three times. The hardware is all chrome over brass marine grade. I like to spray Ballistol on the inside before I store my tools in it. Helps prevent rust. Amsoil MP works for this too. A good friend of mine, now passed away, used to make tool rolls and pouches from duck canvas for his friends here in our Guzzi Club. The duck material frays easily from rubbing when stored in a bike and absorbs moisture too. Keep it treated with something! We used to joke that you knew you were "somebody" in the Club if you'd been given one of Norm's tool rolls! He was a great old guy and I miss him. I still use the big ugly frayed blue tool roll he made for me back in 1993. Many good memories in it. He's actually the one who got me into sewing seat covers. He even gave me a machine and said to practice on other peoples stuff. Then, when I got good, he wanted me to cover a seat for him! If I did that, I could have the machine. What a character he was! I made some neat stuff with that old Singer. But it would only handle three layers of vinyl before dropping stitches. That really limits what you can make. Back in 1996 when I went pro I bought a professional model Consew. (20 layers of nauga or a 1/4" of belt leather were now no problem to sew!) When I decided to go full time 4 years ago I moved up to a even better Juki machine with large bobbin and reverse. You wouldn't believe the tooling I have now! My shop qualifies as a light manufacturing facility! But it's the upholstery we do for customers. The machining, welding and other stuff is just for me and my son to play with. Have you seen the rack on my V11S? That was one of many projects like that we have done for ourselves. Great "quality time" with my son! Rich's Custom Upholstery is on the opposite end of the country from me. Back when the gel product was invented the first company to market it mistakenly sent shipments (Large shipments!) of product meant for them to me. Stupid morons actually crossed out the correct address and wrote mine in. Then I'd have to call them up and tell tell them to get them the stuff out of here or I'd charge them storage. I always wondered what Rich's in Wa. thought of that problem. But no, I am not affiliated with them in any way. I am a sole propriatorship and operate out of a large home shop behind my house here in Chesapeake, Va. 'Been in business professionally since 1996! I have the bone colored leather pouch here ready to ship. Let me know if you'd like it. Thanks!

You will see many problems here because forums like these are where people bring their problems to be solved. That needs to be kept in perspective. I have owned 12 Guzzi's over the years. And 12 other bikes of Japanese or Soviet origin. My Honda's have been the most reliable. But they also bored me. Each one was sold because I lost interest in the bike. My Kawasaki's and Yamaha's were great fun and on a par with Guzzi in reliability. Meaning that some stupid stuff occassionally occured that you never see on a Honda. But none of it ever left me stranded. The Guzzi's are almost the most easy to service bikes I have ever owned. Only my Ural and Dnepr were easier to work on. The have proven themselves to be way overbuilt where it counts. Most of my problems over the years have centered around failing cheap electrical components/wiring. Especially on my early 80's Guzzi's. Cheap painted finishes that peel. Guzzi knows how to lay down a beautiful coat of paint, but prep work seems to be beyond them. The newer bikes see to have problems with cheap fasteners that corrode easily. As a mechanic, I consider these to be very minor problems. I have fun upgrading and personalizing things on the bike to make them better. Every Guzzi I have owned was sold to me for a bargain price as well. That deal on your Lemans sounds like a good one too. I can tolerate debugging a machine if I got it for a good price. My V11S has been a blast to run and is easy to work on. Best Guzzi I have yet owned. But it has needed new upgraded relays and oil cooler brackets. It had a bad seal on the transmission. A neutral switch died. I found a bad wheel bearing this week while greasing the drivetrain components. I have had a crack in a sidecover and the starter cover as well even though I carefully mounted them when the bike was new and their grommets were I fine shape. I smeared JB weld behind them and live with the hairline crack in the finish. (I bought the bike new in the crate and prepped it myself for three days. I'm a careful and thorough mechanic and believe careful prep will head off many problems down the road.) Frustrating? Yep. Most of it was covered under warranty. All but one thing, the oil leak, was fixed very quickly. Only the oil leak kept it off the road for a while. Funny thing about Guzzi's... I have never sold one because I was bored with it. Usually a new one gets me so excited I have to sell a old one to afford a newer one. They are easy to become passionate about. I ride an average of 6 to 12 K miles a year on my bikes. I'm no LD rider, I am very busy working and raising my two teens, but when I tour I regularly ride 400-500 miles a day on back roads. My Guzzi's have been great tools for backroad cruising as well as blasting very fast from point A to B on freeways. They make 80 mph seem like a relaxing walk in the park. Great brakes and handling too. I have had a love-hate relationship with Guzzi for 11 years now. But it has been 90% love and that makes the hate part easy to forget about.

Folks Another of the mods to my bike was to make a more useful tool pouch for it. The one in the photo was the first I built and I still use it. It is 2X larger than stock and fills up the space provided perfectly. Assuming you have removed the charcoal cannisters so you CAN carry a tool pouch! I carry a full set of allen wrenches, small open end wrenches, a multi tip screw driver and even a CO2 inflator. Much nicer storage than the stock pouch provides! I have sold a number of these. I have one in stock now in a bone colored leather. But if there are enough people who want one to warrant putting a whole hide to use, I could do more in red leather like the one shown in the photo is made from. As a professional mechanic and tool junkie, I always look for ways to carry more useful tools on the bike. Funny thing is though, I can't remember ever having to work on my own Guzzi while traveling. But there have been many times I have helped people with sick bikes at Rallies. So at least they do see their use! Comments or suggestions for improvement are always welcome!